New Delhi: India`s low-cost and only profitable airline, IndiGo, is meeting bankers who are bidding to underwrite an initial public offering that has been estimated at around USD 400 million, reports said Thursday.
A business daily, citing six people familiar with developments, said at least half a dozen investment bankers were competing to manage the offering and would make bids to the company in Paris within a fortnight.
Another leading business daily also reported on the talks, saying they were already under way in the French capital. A spokeswoman for Indigo declined to comment to AFP on the stories.
Aviation consulting firm CAPA, the Centre for Aviation, has said it expects IndiGo to launch its IPO in the third quarter of this financial year, which it expects would raise USD 350-400 million and be the largest airline IPO in India.
All of India`s airlines have been reporting losses apart from market leader IndiGo, struck by high fuel prices and the country`s slowing economic growth.
Stiff pricing competition too has eaten into profits of most airlines, a process likely to only intensify in coming months as Air Asia expands its operations in India.
Qatar Airways last month said it was interested in buying into IndiGo, which began operations in 2006 and operates a fleet of 78 Airbus A320s.
